The present invention relates to the field of microfluidic processing devices. More particularly, the present invention provides methods and devices that employ thermally-activated vacuum to move analyte within a microfluidic process array.
Devices in which various chemical or biological processes are performed play an increasing role in scientific and/or diagnostic investigations. The chambers provided in such devices are preferably small in volume to reduce the amount of analyte required to perform the processes.
One persistent issue associated with processing devices including chambers is in the transfer of fluids between different features in the devices. Conventional approaches to transferring fluidic contents between chambers have often required human intervention (e.g., manual pipetting) and/or robotic manipulation. Such transfer processes suffer from a number of disadvantages including, but not limited to, the potential for errors, complexity and associated high costs, etc.